Friday 25 September 2009 08.19 EDT
First published on Friday 25 September 2009 08.19 EDT

There are losers in every revolution. It would be unwise to suggest one overseen by Tony Mowbray will be any different. Gary Caldwell, on face value, would be an unlikely fall guy as Mowbray looks to put his own imprint on Celtic Park. A regular starter, made the team captain thanks to Stephen McManus's early-season injury absence and a player with whom Mowbray worked at another club, Hibernian, Caldwell, one would think, should be an integral part of Celtic's future.

Yet the timing of the defender's recent criticism of his club's hierarchy may prove significant. Amid an impasse over an extension of Caldwell's contract, which is due to expire next summer, he claimed Celtic are "kidding themselves" with the terms on offer. Caldwell feels seriously undervalued, believing the offer is less than what some of his fellow first-team regulars take home every week.

His blast was reported on the very day Celtic were to play Hapoel Tel Aviv in their Europa League opener. Right on cue, the visitors played poorly in Israel, with Caldwell, who has blundered his way through the start of the season for club and country, one of the guilty men.

It is hypocritical to castigate a player for airing his opinions in the media; such words, after all, fill pages. What is legitimate, though, is to question Caldwell's timing. He is a player who never shies away from interviews but he could surely have picked a better juncture to air his contract worries.

The exact details, as ever, are cloudy. Reports suggest Caldwell is seeking £19,000 a week, more than double his current salary. It is to the credit of his representatives that he has not commented regularly on talks – or the lack of them – with the Celtic chief executive, Peter Lawwell.

Caldwell is neither a stand-out nor a rotten player. His value, more to the point, is impossible to quantify at this moment. Can anybody legitimately say a top SPL player is worthy of a £1m-a-year salary? Or is it the case that Caldwell simply contributes as much to his team as Scott Brown, understood to collect close to £25,000 a week?

Mowbray was an unwilling participant in discussions regarding Caldwell a week ago, but made it plain that he will not bend over backwards to plead the player's case. The manager's further assertions that he is "nowhere near" being content with the team at his disposal and that it will take "at least two transfer windows" before that is the case does not augur well for Caldwell. It was the manager, moreover, who volunteered the word "downsizing".

Financial realities – not least due to a lack of Champions League football this season – will prove a significant hurdle to Mowbray. Within a matter of weeks in office, the former West Brom manager has said enough to leave the impression that he is up for major surgery at his new club. And there may well be perfect justification to do so; a sense of flatness, the sensation that something is not quite right with Celtic's play has not lifted since midway through last season. Even supporters realise that, if the atmosphere at Celtic games is anything to go by.

Trying to overhaul a team while maintaining financial prudence comes at a price; that price being players who had earlier been seen as untouchable.

Caldwell, either confident or fully aware he can collect the exact salary he wants elsewhere, will surely be allowed to leave if it means Mowbray can utilise a potential wage more usefully.

Such a scenario may be mutually beneficial. Caldwell will watch Christophe Berra, who moved south from Hearts, earning rave reviews in the Premier League with Wolverhampton Wanderers. Caldwell's brother, Stephen, is also a regular starter in England's top flight. Maybe testing one's ability against genuinely top-class strikers is more valuable than pounds on a wage slip.

There are some curious goings-on at Celtic, in any case. The apparent willingness to let McManus move on a loan deal to Ipswich Town before the transfer window closed was bemusing. Ticket sales are likely to struggle for upcoming Europa League games – the number of ad hoc PR initiatives tells you that – against a backdrop of a challenging economic climate.

Even at this stage in Mowbray's reign, it would hardly be a shock if Scott McDonald is entering his final months at Celtic, regardless of an impressive goals ratio. Aiden McGeady, too, could be in his last season at Parkhead although that is more related to the winger's desire for a fresh challenge than what transfer fee he could attract. As Mowbray seeks revolution and money talks, Gary Caldwell will be fighting a losing battle.